Russia: buildings engulfed underwater, but do not panic after tsunami

“Our factory is diving underwater!” Exclaims in tears a resident of Severo-Kourilsk. Therefore, looking at the waves flood the wearing of this Russian city in the north of the Kourile Islands, after a powerful earthquake.

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From a hill, this woman observes the engulfed building of the Alaïd seafood processing plant and containers float freely, in a video broadcast by the Zvezda television channel.

“Four waves of the tsunami” fell on Severo-Kourilsk on Wednesday. the water having reached a coastal area up to 200 meters from the shore, according to the mayor of the Northern Kouriles District, Alexandre Ovsiannikov.

An earthquake of russia: buildings engulfed underwater, but magnitude 8.8. the most powerful in the region in almost 73 years, struck Tuesday off the Russian Kamchatka peninsula, causing tsunamis in Russia and Japan and triggering alerts in almost all the Pacific riparian countries.

“Each of you has felt these tremors. each of you understood how serious it was,” said Ovsiannikov, speaking in a video to around 2,500 local inhabitants who were evacuated to a secure area.

“The earthquake was very strong. in many furniture apartments fell, the dishes broke,” said Rossïskaïa Gazeta a resident of Severo-Kourilsk, Oleg Stoutchinski, while ensuring that “most people remain calm”.

“There is no panic. ” said another resident, Sergei Lakomov, saying that there are only tourists and those who have small children who get upset.

A local information site, ASTV.ru, broadcast images of the deserted streets of Severo-Kourilsk after the evacuation, where a sound alarm was still heard.

According to the American Geophysical russia: buildings engulfed underwater, but Institute (USGS), the earthquake occurred around 11 p.m. GMT Tuesday at 8.7 km deep, 126 km off Petropavlovsk-Kamthatski, capital of Kamthatka, in the Russian Far East.

This magnitude has been the strongest recorded in Kamchatka since November 5. 1952, when an earthquake of magnitude 9 occurred practically in the same place had triggered devastating tsunamis throughout the Pacific Ocean.

The seismological service of kamchatka warned that replicas of up to 7.5 are expected.